The original interview was conducted at the Remodeling Show & Deck Expo.

[00:00:00] James: And among the exhibitors is Scott Kleban and he is with a company called ColorGuard Railing System. Scott welcome to the program!

Scott: Thank you! Thank you for having me today.

James: So you brought some samples to the exhibit, and these look like deck railing systems.

[00:00:17] Scott: So that’s what we do. Exactly we do a deck and porch railing systems. Fully kitted co-tested as well. We do PVC railings systems that are aluminum reinforced, and then we also do an aluminum system as well. And the entire outdoor living category as well. So we’ve got post wraps. We’ve got structural posts. We’ve got structural porch posts, as well, that are load bearing. We’re actually debuting an underdeck system, and we have an accessory line for wood railing as well, where we don’t sell the lumber, but we sell accessories along with it.

James: I see. Do you also do trellises and pergolas or not?

Scott: We do not do trellises or pergolas.

[00:00:55] James: Sounds like you just about got everything else covered. I mean you’re not doing the decking.

Scott: Exactly.

James: And you’re not doing the pergola, but you’re doing everything else.

[00:01:02] Scott: Exactly.

Morris: I got to tell you something. I was the one that asked our producer to have these folks on. And I saw a post base system that screws into the post.

James: Oh yes.

Morris: You drill a hole in the bottom of the post, and you drive this base into the base of the post, and then you screw it onto the deck. Is that correct?

[00:01:27] Scott: That’s correct. It’s a surface mount system. Our steal post bracket. We also do it astainless steel version as well. Any nominal for about four or six plasticsleeve, or even five by five, we’re able to fill that out. It’s tested for 500pounds of strength. It actually has a leveling mechanism on the bottom, so acontractor or homeowner can actually attach a torpedo level at the top of it,drop a socket on the bottom, 11 degrees any direction, so they’ve got a frontporch that’s reflected for drainage or bad framing or whatever, it’s stilllevel there.

[00:01:59] James: But this is only as good as the deck board.

Morris: This gets recovered. You have to put blocking.

[00:02:03] Scott: Yeah exactly. Exactly. You do not want to go just deposit that board. Cause those, while they look great, they’re not structural. So you’re going to want to block out underneath it.

James: Right.

Scott: We recommend if you’re going into wood, you use a three and a half or four-inch lag. If you’re going into concrete, use the appropriate accessories as well to go to concrete.

[00:02:20] James: Now I see you have aluminum to prevent sagging. You have an aluminum core.

[00:02:31] Scott: Spindlesactually are hollow but they’re plenty strong. So this is a tested product. We submit this annually to a third-party test.

James: Exactly.

Scott: And, you know, residential rail is supposed to be able to withstand 250 pounds of lateral force.

James: Wow.

Scott: They actually hook a strap up right beside our brackets and pull on it with a thousand pounds, 4 times what code requires, and then we go to a 10-foot section and they pull on it with 500 pounds. We pass that. We’re going to flex, but we’re not going to fail. So we’re code tested. You can see our IRC code up to a 10-foot span and on 42 inch rail against IBC, we’re code tested up to an 8-foot span.

[00:03:04] James: I see one that’s PVC and the other that you brought looks like it’s either powder coated or it uses aluminum.

Morris: Let me stop for a second. What Scott just said is hat

[00:03:14] Morris: For your edification, the rail, at six-foot span, that’s from post to post, is four times stronger than required by code.

Scott: that’s actually get right beside the bracket system. Exactly. You pull on. And we can go all the way to a ten-foot span with this product and pass IRC code.

James: Interesting.

[00:03:34] Morris: I
wouldn’t want to because I don’t think it’d look good.

Scott: But, you know, different folks have different looks

Morris: Different strokes for different folks.

Scott: There you go.

James: Is this painted? Is this powder coated? Or is it extruded?

Scott: That is powder coated.

James: How many colors?

Scott: We do that in three colors. We do that in black, white, and bronze.

[00:03:50] Scott: And something about Color Guard, as well as everything is fully kitted between the posts. So your top and bottom rail, all your brackets you’re balusters, your support block, all your stainless steel hardware is all in one box. And we do4-foot, 5-foot, 6-foot, 7-foot, 8-foot, and 10-foot lengths. So if someone’s got a 4-foot, 2-in opening, they don’t have to buy a 6-footer and have over a foot and half of waste. Instead, they can buy 5-footer, buy smarter and have everything in one box.

[00:04:15] James: Am I going to assemble each of the spindles and so on or do you ship preassembled sections?

Scott: So we ship it in a knockdown kit.

James: A knockdown kit. Okay.

[00:04:24] Scott: You’re going to have your bottom rail with your vinyl. You have your bottom row with the vinyl already inside of it pre-routed. Your top rail the same way. You’re going to take it out of the box. And what’s unique about Color Guard also is our bracket system. You actually do not have to hang anything on the post first. You can, actually, all the brackets slide on the end. So it’s actually less labor time. They’re going to go in they’re going to attach a bottom rope, their support block and-

Morris: I got to tell you. I got to tell you something about this bracket. That’s a two-piece bracket right there, James. That bracket.

James: Yes.

Morris: It’s two pieces, and you screw the first piece onto the post.

James: Yes.

Morris: And then clip the second piece onto the post.

Scott: To the top and bottom. Put the caps over it.

Morris: So the screws are hidden.

James: They’re hidden. Right. Yeah.

[00:05:05] Morris: And you have a receiver for the top rail.

James: And then you tighten up the last two

Scott: The two-cent screws that go into the aluminum on both sides and that way if somebody falls back and grabs or falls into it either way they’re-

[00:05:19] James: Scott, you said, “you know we’re we’re selling to builders and we want builders to install this.” But truth be told this looks like a system that a handy do-it-yourself-er could do.

Morris: You don’t need to be builder to install this!

James: Are you selling to the end user or not?

Scott: We don’t sell directly to the end-user. Everything goes through two-step or one-step distribution.

Morris: Builders gotta like this! This is idiot proof.

[00:05:34] Scott: Well that’s the whole idea. I had a builder sit down with me a few years ago, guys, at a function. They said there’s three things anybody wants out of a product from a builder standpoint. They want products to show up, they want products to go up, and they want it to go away. And that fits us perfectly. We’ve got good distribution. We can get it out there easy, installations a breeze, and then go away. We don’t have callbacks on this product.

[00:05:56] From Harrisburg, North Carolina, he is Scott Kleban. The company is Color Guard Railing Systems. How can folks get more information?

[00:06:13] Scott: You’re looking at a range there. What I do is we go off a list price is what the homeowner would pay. Obviously contractors going to do better than that. But you’re looking at about $18 to the contractor a linear foot here and about $25to $28 on the aluminum.

[00:06:26] Thank you
Scott!

Scot: Thank you.

James: More On The House live from the Remodeling Show and Deck Expo after this.

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James and Morris Carey, known as The Carey Bros., are nationally recognized experts on home building and renovation. They share their experience as award-winning, licensed contractors with millions of people nationwide through a weekly radio and online streaming show. The CareyBrosPros is a way to reach the contractor and professional and share our experience, wisdom and weekly tips.